Morrowind - Mod News & Interview

October 20th, 2013, 04:39

Up first I have sad news to announce that Qarl the famous modder for Morrowind, and Oblivion has passed away. He is known for his texture packs.

I don't know if this news to anyone here. But modding legend Qarl passed away in June, from a sudden liver disease. Qarl was the author of the Underground mods, and various texture packs for Morrowind and Oblivion.

Why do you think Morrowind’s modding community continues to thrive more than a decade after the game’s original release?

I’ve pondered this a lot, and have a dozen theories that I could ramble about. In short, I think it’s about creativity and passion. (Please keep in mind that these statements are my opinion only…I don’t want to upset anyone here.) Skyrim and Oblivion are great games, but Morrowind is a legendary game. While it does have its technical shortcomings, things which were perhaps addressed in the other games, it had an atmosphere…a feeling to it that the other ones never quite nailed. You could tell that every room you entered was painstakingly handcrafted, that each quest you went on was thought out and written by a person rather than being generated. When you couple that with a Construction Set that is vastly simpler to use than that of its successors (not to mention all of the 3rd party utilities that are tried and true) it comes as no surprise that people continue to create mods and use them for this game.

Besides…we haven’t perfected it yet!

What Elder Scrolls-related projects are you working on these days?

Primarily I’ve been focused on Modhistory. Technically I have about a dozen mods that are in the “work in progress” stage, but the reality is that I haven’t actually opened up the CS in about a year now. I have always dreaded becoming one of those modders who hype up a project and then never do it (a “vaporware” developer) but I fear that has become the case due to real world responsiblities.

Since I work in the web hosting industry, that is where most of my attention lies; as such what little leisure time I have is spent in that direction as well. When I have ten minutes to spare, I can quickly connect to my development server and do some work on one of the GHF network sites wherever I am.

One of the things I have been most proud of is the MMH Smithy. Using Yacoby’s ESMLib I was able to create a web interface utility that actually creates a mod that uses the weapon resources we have at Morrowind Modding History. The mods it makes are very simple at this point; it just makes the weapon according to the stats you specify. I do intend to expand upon that quite a bit to include armor and clothing and possibly have a spellmaking and enchanting service. I have some vague notions about making some type of online social sharing/reward type game out of it too…but that is still in the seedling stage.

e. While it does have its technical shortcomings, things which were perhaps addressed in the other games, it had an atmosphere…a feeling to it that the other ones never quite nailed. You could tell that every room you entered was painstakingly handcrafted, that each quest you went on was thought out and written by a person rather than being generated.

This is absolutely true and my feelings exactly. I never quite got that same "handcrafted" feeling from Oblivion and Skyrim. Still great games, but lacking in that area.

Originally Posted by Fluent
This is absolutely true and my feelings exactly. I never quite got that same "handcrafted" feeling from Oblivion and Skyrim. Still great games, but lacking in that area.

Because it WAS handcrafted Fluent. In Morrowind CS every bit of scenery could have been individualy manipulated. Oblivion was much more modular and Skyrim even more so. I also could never understand why Skyrim (and, to the lesser extend, Oblivion) forego use of "statics". I know that objects are more realistic than statics but it's a real pain when you keep knocking down all those bits of decor and than have to, painstakingly, put them back again.

Originally Posted by Dajjer
I sorta get the feeling with Skyrim. But the Morrowwind world was far more imaginative. Sometimes I wish Skyrim was the earlier game and Morrowind was the latest game.

You know I did not know this guy. But I am glad that there are people who will note what he did. I am sure he had a life outside the Morrowwind Modder, but that is how we are connected to him. Seems like every day I see something tragic, but I just have a hard time connecting.
But here is something we all know and love (like a classic novel) and through that shared love he will have some bit of immortality.

It makes me want to fire Morrowwind up, and play it with the eyes of someone who now has hundreds of games under his belt, and therefore a different perspective.
One of mindfulness and appreciation for something of craftsmanship and beauty